Zuno made himself comfortable in his room before he went out to explore the rest of the academy. He still couldn't believe that Wize was there. For what he knows, he doesn't have any magical abilities. He tried to disregard the issue and continued exploring. He walked outside of the dormitory and headed to the training grounds. It is very bright despite no sunlight shune through, lava was also another source of light. The academy floated above it. The buildings were divided into island-like lands with bridges connecting them. (As shown in the picture of this chapter)

Zuno went to the darkness training room, it was located deeper inside the mountains but there was no light. He peeked through the door, there was no one there. He decided to continue exploring. He went for the academy's main building where the classes took place. A giant clock tower was the entrance to the building, it was the only way to keep track of time. He was amazed by how the main lobby looked. Chandeliers were dangling from the ceilings and glass painting covered the giant mirrors, although he thought there was no reason for a mirror. The cadets, the people studying there already knew each other and Zuno was the only new one. People stared at him as he walked by, but he didn't mind them. After a few hours of exploring, he went back to his room. There, his roommate was waiting.

"Hi there, I'm Sam, a normal mage. You must be Zuno." Sam greeted.

"Uhm. Hi, yep that's me, Zuno. A shadow summoner." Zuno replied. "Wait, you're a normal mage? As in no elemental powers?"

"Yep, a normal mage, only capable of reading the spells and performing every type of it." Sam replied.

"Only? That's amazing! That means you can use every spell there is regardless of elements." Zuno was amazed.

"Ehehe, well yes I guess, but I cannot control elements, I have to rely on my spell-casting ability fully." Sam laughed a bit while answering.

"Nonetheless, it's cool, nice to meet you." Zuno answered.

The two went on talking about their lives for the rest of the night.

----------

The next day

"Zuno wake up, it's almost briefing time." Sam whispered.

With sleepy eyes Zuno answered, "what? Why is there a briefing early in the morning?"

"It's a routine here, every morning we have a briefing about what the schedules for today are, it is always different. Come on, get dressed." Sam explained.

Zuno was now awake, he saw Sam already dressed in the uniform, a white long sleeves shirt with a grey vest bearing the Andeena emblem on the back (the vest color differ from each elements: darkness have black ones, light have cream ones, water have blue ones, fire have red ones, earth have brown ones and the normal ones have grey colored ones), black pants and shoes also with a black cape with the Andeena symbol too. "Well, you are ready."

"Haha, yeah. It is a habit of mine to wake up early in the morning. Like my mom used to say 'The early boy gets the blessing.' " Sam said

"Alright, alright. Give me a minute." Zuno mumbled.

Ten minutes later, they were on their way to the main lobby. Hundreds of student have gathered waiting for the briefing from the headmaster.

From a podium, the headmaster and the mentors arrived.

"Morning students, hope you are all doing great. Let's get to it yeah. For today, we have a few newcomers here, so make sure you make them feel at home. Today we have opened the gladiator room, don't worry, you won't have to kill each other. It is just for practice for all of you. 10 person is limited per match and make sure if you want to use the room, a mentor must accompany you. That is all. Do as you always usually do and May our magic protect us from evil." The headmaster briefed.

"May our magic protect us from evil." The students and mentors followed. Then they were dismissed.

"See ya later Zuno." Sam said.

Zuno and Sam separated for class time.

"Over here Zuno!" Exus called.

Zuno approached Exus, "Morning sir." He greeted.

"Morning. Follow me to darkness." Exus said.

"R-right." Zuno was a bit confused.

Exus took Zuno towards the bridge just outside the academy. Zuno sees students jumping off the bridge.

Frightened, Zuno said "A-are we supposed to jump down?"

"No, no those are for the fire mages, the jump to the lava, their training ground and their classes are down there." Exus answered. "We, on the other hand, will just go down under the bridge from where we stand."

"H-how exactly?" Zuno was still confused.

"We are standing on our own shadows right? That is the way to darkness, through our shadows. Come." Exus said as he went down through his shadows to the darkness.

"Wait! Wait!" Zuno yelled. He didn't know how to do it. From under him, shadows hand appeared and held his leg then pulled him down. "Holy Shit!" He was pulled to darkness.

Zuno opened his eyes and saw the same exact replica of the academy only there were no light, but he could perfectly see everything. Shadows, ghosts and spirits roam the dark realm.

"Bit of a ride yeah? Welcome to your new world!" Exus welcomed. "Come, I'll take you to your class."

Exus escorted Zuno to a classroom, but it wasn't your typical classroom with chairs, tables and a whiteboard. The classroom was empty, there was nothing in it but the wooden floor and the walls. "Alright then, class session is starting." Exus said. From the walls and the floor, also the upper floor, came the students, they passed through the walls and floor.

"Settle down students, we have a new student, his name is Zuno." Exus said.

There were about 20 students in the classroom. After they heard his name, they discussed amongst each other.

"You probably already know that he is special." Exus continued.

"Special? More like cursed!" A student shouted.

"His kind is what killed many of us years ago!" Another student shouted.

The students began to outrage. Some of their parents were killed by shadow summoners during the Great War.

"Enough!" Exus made clear. "Don't look at the past actions of shadow summoners, those people are already eliminated. He is different, he doesn' want to use his powers for evil. Right Zuno?

Zuno just nodded. The students settled down but they were still outraged at Zuno.

"First lesson of the day 'dark control'. We are going to learn how to control our powers." Exus said.

"Jane, come up here." Exus asked. The student went forward. "Show us your power."

Jane nodded. She put her palm on the floor, "Lycan." She chanted. She transformed into a huge Lycan about twice the size of the students.

"Woah." The students were in awe.

"Her ability is shapeshifting, but only into dark creatures that are roughly about our size. Anything like transforming into a drake will kill her." Exus explained.

Jane transformed back to a human. She was tired, her mana almost ran out.

"Her problem is, she couldn't balance her mana use. She could only transform for a few minutes, no longer. We will teach you to control your mana." Exus went on. "Thank you Jane."

"Zuno, come here." Exus said.

The students began moving back, afraid of Zuno.

"Show them." Exus insisted.

Zuno also placed his palm on the floor, "From darkness and by darkness, I summon thee creatures of the dark, RISE shadows of Zuno." He said.

4 shadows appeared surrounding Zuno, faint whispers of the shadows could be heard. They were as tall as Zuno, they were just standing still. Zuno pointed his index finger to his front, the shadows moved according to his directions. He then flicked his fingers, the shadows made a sword and prepared to strike.

"Zuno! STOP!" Exus shouted as he prepared to destroy the shadows.

Zuno didn't listen, instead he told the shadows, "Attack."